Friday, Jun. 26, 2009
U.S. Track & Field Championships: Brown Trafton wins discus title
Day is also headed to world championships in the women’s high jump
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closeStephanie Brown Trafton has her first national championship.
And she and fellow Cal Poly graduate Sharon Day have punched their tickets to their first world championships.
Trafton, the defending Olympic gold medalist in the women’s discus won her first national title Thursday with a throw of 210 feet, 9 inches at the U.S. Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Meanwhile, Day finished third in the women’s high jump, equaling her personal record of 6-4¾.
They both made their first world championship team as the top three finishers in each event qualify for the world meet in Berlin in August.
Despite winning the gold medalist last year, Brown Trafton finished only her third at the U.S. Olympic Trials last season, which served as the national championships.
She is the current world leader this season at 217-2.
Finishing second was Aretha Thurmond (205-1), and Becky Breisch was third (203-8).
In the women’s high jump, Chaunte Howard, Amy Acuff and Day all cleared 6-4 ¾, so the placing order came down to misses. Howard cleared 6-43⁄4 on her first attempt to get the win, Acuff cleared it on her second attempt for second and Day on her third attempt to finish third.
All three then missed all three of their tries at the next height, 6-51⁄2.
Howard, Acuff and Day also finished 1-2-3, respectively, at last year’s Olympic Trials.
Day will have an opportunity to earn a world championship berth in a second event later this week. She will be competing in the heptathlon Saturday and Sunday and has the top mark in the U.S. entering the competition.
Another former Cal Poly star, Ben Bruce, qualified for Saturday’s final in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Bruce finished third in his heat in 8 minutes, 34.90 seconds to be one of 14 qualifiers for the final. He had the third-fastest overall time.
Yet another former Cal Poly All-American, Maggie Vessey, easily advanced to today’s semifinals of the women’s 800. Vessey, running on the same track where she won the 800 at the Prefontaine Classic on June 7, finished second in her first-round heat in 2 minutes, 5.44 seconds and easily nab one of the 12 automatic qualifying berths to today’s semifinals. In all, 16 runners moved on to the semifinals.
In the opening day of the decathlon, San Luis Obispo resident Paul Terek was eighth with 3,872 points. He had the day’s best effort in the shot put with a toss of 48 feet, 43⁄4 inches.
Terek is seeking to make his fourth world championship team since 2003.
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